Moving to Naas area

niall9

Hi all,

We are moving back to ireland after a few years in bristol. My wife has gotten a job at Naas general hospital. I am looking for work but will more than likely be working in dublin.

We don't know the area at all and so would really appreciate any advice regarding where to live, commute times to dublin, best way to commute, whether to rent first then buy or buy, where to rent - naas/sallins/johnstown/blessington (too far?). So not much then

Weve heard Naas is a lovely town.

Thanks in advance for help

niall

E39MSport

niall9 wrote: »

Hi all,

We are moving back to ireland after a few years in bristol. My wife has gotten a job at Naas general hospital. I am looking for work but will more than likely be working in dublin.

We don't know the area at all and so would really appreciate any advice regarding where to live, commute times to dublin, best way to commute, whether to rent first then buy or buy, where to rent - naas/sallins/johnstown/blessington (too far?). So not much then

Weve heard Naas is a lovely town.

Thanks in advance for help

niall

Niall,

Not a fan of Naas myself. If you have cash then now is a good time to buy in Ireland. Might be even better in 6 - 12 months.
Sallins is a Kip imo.
Maynooth might be a good spot if she's in Naas and you'll be in Dublin. Be about 25 mins to Naas via Clane etc and 25 to Dublin. Not a bad commute for both of ye. Clane is another option.
Prosperous is a dump.
Then you could go the Wicklow direction as you say but I reckon a Dublin commute for yourself might not be great. The countryside gets nicer as you travel from Naas to Wicklow imo. It's not too far out.

Hope you do well for yourselves and welcome back.

K

niall9

Hi K,

Cheers for the advice.

What about Newcastle/ Celbridge/ Saggart?

Would be good to be near to a nice small town/ village that is not too overdeveloped.

Is Maynooth a good spot?

Yeah we will probably rent for 6-12 months then think of buying.

Many thanks

niall

granturismo

E39MSport wrote: »

Sallins is a Kip imo.
Maynooth might be a good spot if she's in Naas and you'll be in Dublin. Be about 25 mins to Naas via Clane etc and 25 to Dublin. Not a bad commute for both of ye. Clane is another option.

Sallins is not a kip imo.

Maynooth to Naas Hopsital is at least 30 min and probably more depending on what time of the day, heavy traffic in Sallins and Naas will add another 20 min.

stakey

Niall,

First things first, now is not a good time to buy in the Irish market and certainly you'll get very little value for money in Kildare or anywhere else in the commuter belt.

To the towns you mentioned:

Naas - A fairly prosperous town but very little smart investment done by the county council, business community and government. A little lacking in the town centre itself, most of the new commercial development is being done on the outskirts of the town or wherever the county council can zone.

Not cheap to rent (of buy) in, as such some of the neighbouring towns/villages have now begun to grow to the detriment of Naas. Fairly easy to commute to Dublin, regular bus services from the town center serve Dublin city centre and a bus service will bring you to Sallins for the train service running into the city centre if you prefer that too.

Sallins - One of the towns/villages that grew thanks to the cost of Naas. As a result Sallins is a bit of a Naas overflow service, people who can't afford to rent/buy in Naas went to Sallins. It's only a 15 minute drive to Naas town center and has a train service running directly into Dublin. So, it's not a bad option if you just want somewhere to live that's close to Naas and easy to commute to Dublin from. However, Sallins has completely stagnated on a development level, there's lots of empty apartment blocks, shop units and offices.

Maynooth - I'm not a fan, Maynooth has a very weird mixture of students from the NUI (University) and locals (who for the most part seem to dislike but take business from students). There's just an odd feeling to the town. Very similar to Naas and the bigger towns of Kildare. An old well established town centre that hasn't changed much with a circle of new developments and housing estates on the periphery resulting in crappy traffic at most times of the day through the town centre.

Fairly easy to commute to Dublin from, regular Dublin bus services into the town, but not a very fast or efficient service. Think a 30 minute trip extended by stops every 5 mins. The train station serves the city centre and is probably your best bet.

Johnstown - Similar to Sallins, very close to Naas and majorly benefited from prices in Naas resulting in an odd country village feel mixed with new developments and apartments. Rediculous pricing came a knocking here too.

Blessington - Similar to Sallins, it's grown massively in the last couple of years with a huge addition of shop units, housing estates, apartments etc etc. It is relatively cheaper than the others though and it does have the benefit of being right at the doorstep to some lovely countryside. Again, like Sallins it's stagnating a little with empty apartments/offices around parts of the town.

It's serviced by one Dublin Bus route, it's about 30-40 mins minimum into Dublin on this route and it's about a 30 minute drive to Naas.

The major problem with the smaller towns around Kildare/Wicklow is the lack of commuter infrastructure. The bigger towns like Naas/Newbridge etc have better access to motorways/rail corridors and as such provide that little bit better a commuting service.

The smaller towns either have no commuter services at all and rely on their general proximity to the bigger towns or they have sporadic badly funded commuting services. You really have to look for a play off.

If your wife is working in Naas, then the town or surrounding area wouldn't be bad to rent in. There's plenty of access to local amenities, most of the country side is a nice drive away, commuting services are decent enough that you can just about rely on them and costs/rents are continuing to tumble.

I haven't said anything about Newcastle/ Celbridge/ Saggart as I'm not really sure about them, never been in or know anyone who lives there.

thebiglad

niall9 wrote: »

Hi K,

Cheers for the advice.

What about Newcastle/ Celbridge/ Saggart?

Would be good to be near to a nice small town/ village that is not too overdeveloped.

Is Maynooth a good spot?

Yeah we will probably rent for 6-12 months then think of buying.

Many thanks

niall

Hi Niall

I will declare that I live in Newcastle and so biased or well placed to comment - take your choice.

Saggart/Newcastle/Rathcoole - all convenient for N7 so commute would be ok - traffic is much improved in Dublin direction these days but realistically driving into the city after 7.30 would be a long session. There is however Luas from Red Cow with P&R.

The area is lovely, we have a few restaurants/pubs and good amenities with Citywest Hotel (and Conference centre) where there is a good gym. We have 2 Dunnes & 1 Tesco as well as good spread of Spar/Centra type stores.

Liffey Valley shopping centre is close enough with a good cinema or there is Naas Cinema.

Newcastle has least options for restaurants etc but then Rathcoole is only 2km away and has all. Newcastle is a large but fairly quiet village with lots of new build so rental would not be a problem.

Depending on your budget there are some lovely rental properties in Village at Lyons (just beyond Newcastle) - like a mini Powerscourt!

Happy to advise by PM if you have any specific questions or want any local contact information.

E39MSport

(bit off topic) @ stakey - how come you reckon it's not a good time to buy?

Re: Maynooth to Naas. I can't think of any heavy traffic areas
Maynooth --> Rathcoffey --> Propserous --> up the canal right into Naas.

Michael B

stakey wrote: »

Niall,

First things first, now is not a good time to buy in the Irish market and certainly you'll get very little value for money in Kildare or anywhere else in the commuter belt.

To the towns you mentioned:

Naas - A fairly prosperous town but very little smart investment done by the county council, business community and government. A little lacking in the town centre itself, most of the new commercial development is being done on the outskirts of the town or wherever the county council can zone.

Not cheap to rent (of buy) in, as such some of the neighbouring towns/villages have now begun to grow to the detriment of Naas. Fairly easy to commute to Dublin, regular bus services from the town center serve Dublin city centre and a bus service will bring you to Sallins for the train service running into the city centre if you prefer that too.

Sallins - One of the towns/villages that grew thanks to the cost of Naas. As a result Sallins is a bit of a Naas overflow service, people who can't afford to rent/buy in Naas went to Sallins. It's only a 15 minute drive to Naas town center and has a train service running directly into Dublin. So, it's not a bad option if you just want somewhere to live that's close to Naas and easy to commute to Dublin from. However, Sallins has completely stagnated on a development level, there's lots of empty apartment blocks, shop units and offices.

Maynooth - I'm not a fan, Maynooth has a very weird mixture of students from the NUI (University) and locals (who for the most part seem to dislike but take business from students). There's just an odd feeling to the town. Very similar to Naas and the bigger towns of Kildare. An old well established town centre that hasn't changed much with a circle of new developments and housing estates on the periphery resulting in crappy traffic at most times of the day through the town centre.

Fairly easy to commute to Dublin from, regular Dublin bus services into the town, but not a very fast or efficient service. Think a 30 minute trip extended by stops every 5 mins. The train station serves the city centre and is probably your best bet.

Johnstown - Similar to Sallins, very close to Naas and majorly benefited from prices in Naas resulting in an odd country village feel mixed with new developments and apartments. Rediculous pricing came a knocking here too.

Blessington - Similar to Sallins, it's grown massively in the last couple of years with a huge addition of shop units, housing estates, apartments etc etc. It is relatively cheaper than the others though and it does have the benefit of being right at the doorstep to some lovely countryside. Again, like Sallins it's stagnating a little with empty apartments/offices around parts of the town.

It's serviced by one Dublin Bus route, it's about 30-40 mins minimum into Dublin on this route and it's about a 30 minute drive to Naas.

The major problem with the smaller towns around Kildare/Wicklow is the lack of commuter infrastructure. The bigger towns like Naas/Newbridge etc have better access to motorways/rail corridors and as such provide that little bit better a commuting service.

The smaller towns either have no commuter services at all and rely on their general proximity to the bigger towns or they have sporadic badly funded commuting services. You really have to look for a play off.

If your wife is working in Naas, then the town or surrounding area wouldn't be bad to rent in. There's plenty of access to local amenities, most of the country side is a nice drive away, commuting services are decent enough that you can just about rely on them and costs/rents are continuing to tumble.

I haven't said anything about Newcastle/ Celbridge/ Saggart as I'm not really sure about them, never been in or know anyone who lives there.

So you basically have nothing good to say about anywhere bar Naas?

I quite like Maynooth and I think commuting wise OP it would be the best option for you as it would be roughly the same commute for both of you going to Dublin and Naas. This is where we will be moving to at some stage over the next year. Clane is nice, still small enough but has lots of new developments. Amenity wise Maynooth has everything you need - loads of shops (including 24hr Tesco and Dunnes), regular bus and train in to town. Just keep away from the student areas. There's many non student housing estates.

Definitely rent first for a while, that way even if you pick somewhere you could always buy elsewhere once you've settled in to the locality and had a look around at other towns in your own time. Best of luck with the move back.

stakey

Michael B wrote: »

So you basically have nothing good to say about anywhere bar Naas?

Nope, I didn't address other towns/villages that I don't have first hand familiarity with. I don't praise Naas to highly either, as I pointed out in my post, little to no smart investment back into the town by those that run it and completely crap planning of new developments leading to an under developed town centre with all the new commercial centres on the outskirts of the town. Something which tends to be repeated alot in towns the size of Naas.

SueWho

I moved to Naas a year ago and really like it. If you live anywhere over the hospital side of the town literally everything you need is less than a 20 min walk away. There are lots of nice restaurants to chose from and a nice selection of boutique shops. If you want the hight street stores they're only up the road in Whitewater SC in Newbridge.

My opnion would be that if you live in Maynooth or outside of Naas then you both end up commuting to work. You might as well live in Naas and have only one of you doing a commute.

You could just try renting in Naas maybe Craddockstown, Kingsview, Oakglade etc- that general side of town is a handy walk into the main street and is close to the hospital.

Whispered

I'd suggest looking at kilcullen. I'm biased, I love it here.

It's a smaller town than naas. About 10 mins drive from naas and on the motorway to dublin. It's a small country town feel with easy access to dublin/naas/newbridge.

niall9

Many thanks all for all the advice. Extremely useful. We'll head back for a week and travel around to see which of the areas suit best. Cheers again

niall

anotherlostie

If you have the cash, you could always do it in reverse if you are working in Dublin, i.e. live closer to Dublin and have your wife commute to Naas. I make it from Clondalkin to Newbridge in less than 40 minutes now thanks to the road improvements in recent years and you are going against traffic that way, which cannot be said for travel in the other direction.

I lived in Naas for five years, and never settled - I found the natives to be unfriendly and disliking of anyone from outside the area that bought one of 'their' houses, even though the town was grand and it was great for Punchestown. I was glad to move back to Dublin!

stackerman

anotherlostie wrote: »

I lived in Naas for five years, and never settled - I found the natives to be unfriendly and disliking of anyone from outside the area that bought one of 'their' houses, even though the town was grand and it was great for Punchestown. I was glad to move back to Dublin!

I think IMHO thats way off the mark. If your Wife is going to work in the Hospital I would rent in Naas and take your time to have a look around while there. Naas is a great town, I dont live there but spend alot of time in Naas and have alot of friends living there.

There are some really nice Villages around Naas which in time may interest you, Two Mile house, Kilteel, Ballymore etc.
If you were to end up working in Dublin and use a car, I would look at the area just outside Naas but towards Dublin along the N7 (Naas 10 min)
Saggart is ok IMO and will soon have a Train (Luas) line there into the centre of Dublin, 1 year maybe less before its finished. If you want something more rural, have a look around Ardclough, Kilteel etc but stay away from Rathcoole !!

Dont know if you have kids . . . .

SueWho

anotherlostie wrote: »

I lived in Naas for five years, and never settled - I found the natives to be unfriendly and disliking of anyone from outside the area that bought one of 'their' houses, even though the town was grand and it was great for Punchestown. I was glad to move back to Dublin!

I'm not from Naas myself and I have found that most of the people I meet are in the same boat,we're all blow-ins of sorts- lots of people from the south and west- Tipp, Kerry, Cork, Roscommon to name but a few. All very friendly and I personally have never come across a Naas "native" who made me feel like I shouldn't be in "their" town.

I'm probably going to be shot down for saying this but I think generally the type of "blow-in" that is disliked by commter belt town and county "natives" is the tracksuit wearing, boxer owning, scumbag type from a certain large city...

E39MSport

SueWho wrote: »

I'm not from Naas myself and I have found that most of the people I meet are in the same boat,we're all blow-ins of sorts- lots of people from the south and west- Tipp, Kerry, Cork, Roscommon to name but a few. All very friendly and I personally have never come across a Naas "native" who made me feel like I shouldn't be in "their" town.

I'm probably going to be shot down for saying this but I think generally the type of "blow-in" that is disliked by commter belt town and county "natives" is the tracksuit wearing, boxer owning, scumbag type from a certain large city...

You'd be a fine addition to any community.

r0nanf

SueWho wrote: »

I'm probably going to be shot down for saying this but I think generally the type of "blow-in" that is disliked by commter belt town and county "natives" is the tracksuit wearing, boxer owning, scumbag type from a certain large city...

Where's that then, Cork?
:pac:

anotherlostie

SueWho wrote: »

I'm not from Naas myself and I have found that most of the people I meet are in the same boat,we're all blow-ins of sorts- lots of people from the south and west- Tipp, Kerry, Cork, Roscommon to name but a few. All very friendly and I personally have never come across a Naas "native" who made me feel like I shouldn't be in "their" town.

I'm probably going to be shot down for saying this but I think generally the type of "blow-in" that is disliked by commter belt town and county "natives" is the tracksuit wearing, boxer owning, scumbag type from a certain large city...

Well I'm from another part of the country, working in the area, only wear a tracksuit when in the gym and don't like dogs of any sort. And I'm certainly not a scumbag, but thanks for suggesting that I was. :rolleyes:

BuffyBot

Yeah anotherlostie, generalisations just *suck*, don't they. It's not nice to be generalised about, is it?

Considering that the majority of Naas residents aren't natives, but imports themselves, your generalisation kind of falls down too..

anotherlostie

BuffyBot wrote: »

Yeah anotherlostie, generalisations just *suck*, don't they. It's not nice to be generalised about, is it?

Considering that the majority of Naas residents aren't natives, but imports themselves, your generalisation kind of falls down too..

How is it a generalisation when it is what I experienced living there? I was living in an old part of the town, and that's what I had to live with.

Whispered

SueWho wrote: »

I'm not from Naas myself and I have found that most of the people I meet are in the same boat,we're all blow-ins of sorts- lots of people from the south and west- Tipp, Kerry, Cork, Roscommon to name but a few. All very friendly and I personally have never come across a Naas "native" who made me feel like I shouldn't be in "their" town.

I'm probably going to be shot down for saying this but I think generally the type of "blow-in" that is disliked by commter belt town and county "natives" is the tracksuit wearing, boxer owning, scumbag type from a certain large city...

I had thanked this post because as a blow in myself (to Kilcullen) I have not met anybody who was less than nice and welcoming.

Then I read the last bit and realised that you decide someone is a "scumbag" for wearing a tracksuit (my clothes of choice when walking long distances) or owning a boxer dog. What does the type of dog one owns or the fact they might wear walking clothes while walking, have to do with them being welcomed or not welcomed into a community?

I'm from a small country town myself and attitudes like this are among the minority, but they give everyone a bad name.

Theresalwaysone

Opinions are like arseholes.

I've been living here all my life and personally I'd never have a go at anyone for being a "blow in". I'd easily say 90% of the current population of Naas are people from outside Naas. In the last 20 years the town has grown massively, and no matter how I try I can't explain away the population growth with the sexual activities of the inhabitants, it must be from somewhere else....

Anyway Op, experience it yourself. Everyone will have a different opinion but remember negativity bias is an all too human trait.

Benny_Cake

Only been living in Naas for a fortnight, but from listening to the accents floating around, I'd gather many of the people here are "blow-ins". We went out Saturday night and our -taxi driver gave us a run down of all the bars and restaraunts in town when she heard we had just moved here. On my limited experience I have to say I feel quite at home here and it has most of the things I'd be looking for in a place to live.

Tombom

HI , Im intereseted in why you advise to "stay away from Rathcoole? I am looking at buying at the moment and see value in the developments there such as Peyton especially considering the luas is due in nearby Saggart shortly?

Any thoughts on Rathcoole ??

stackerman

Tombom wrote: »

HI , Im intereseted in why you advise to "stay away from Rathcoole? I am looking at buying at the moment and see value in the developments there such as Peyton especially considering the luas is due in nearby Saggart shortly?

Any thoughts on Rathcoole ??

Maybe good value, but not a really sought after village. The Village looks crap (bad planning), not much in it and crap food/pubs. If it was me and I needed to be in this sort of area, I'd sooner look at Newcastle or Saggart. Would have thought 'good value' could be had in both too, and prob a better resale in the future.
But look, thats just my opinion . . . I'm just not a fan of Rathcoole

Tyrant^

Just a little side note about Naas

There does be a awful smell from the dump usually lingering around the east side of Naas. How bad it gets I think depends on what way the wind is blowing...

Just to let you know

Kobayashi

Never noticed any smell in my 5 years in Naas. Got to say I found most folks friendly enough when I moved here, in fact I was struck by how welcoming people were. Think the summary of all the towns and villages is pretty accurate except to say in my experience its more like 90 mins on the bus from Blessington to Dublin centre! Balanced by the access to the lakes, etc.